REVIEWS Archives - Page 9 of 612

12Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

First Night at The Hub – The Hub

And so, it begins. A couple of hours ago I heard this exact piece played by these exact musicians. So why does it suddenly sound completely different? Earlier in the evening, at the Usher Hall, conductor Karina Canellakis had put down her baton, picked up her violin and joined pianist Kirill Gerstein for the Blues movement from Ravel's Violin Sonata No. 2. It was beautifully played, but somehow this intimate little conversation struggled against the grandeur and ceremony of that enormous hall. Now they have hightailed it up the hill to The Hub, as have I, and everything has changed. The room is smaller. We are closer. The acoustic is different. Suddenly every inflection matters. The blues within Ravel's music seems clearer, the conversation between violin and ...

12Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Come Back Home – Summerhall

There is a danger in making theatre intentionally difficult to understand. Make it oblique enough, abstract enough, strip away rhythm, meter, narrative momentum and familiar cultural reference points, and eventually you have to ask whether the audience is being challenged or simply excluded. Come Back Home walks perilously close to that line. I found myself thinking about Rothko. Put a Rothko beside conventional paintings and its abstraction, colour and absence of recognisable form acquire context. Fill the entire gallery with Rothkos and something changes. If you anchor the absurd against nothing, it isn't even quantifiable as absurd. There is very little here against which to anchor anything. At its centre is a man telling the story of the boy he once was, growing up...

Mythos: Ragnarök – Assembly Rooms, Music Hall

12Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Mythos: Ragnarök – Assembly Rooms, Music Hall

The fringe is all about embracing all kinds of art from physical theatre, to spoken word, from historical talks to wrestling…. yup this is a wrestling show but with a twist. Mythos Ragnarok has become a stable of the fringe since it started its journey 5 years ago, and it’s not hard to see why. Being the first of its kind (that we know of), it mixes wrestling, Norse Mythology and storytelling incredibly well. Is all the mythology told in its most correct form? Not quite, but time constraints and the power of theatre allow for a little customization, not to mention the stories were made up to begin with. This show is really a labour of love that has paid off: homemade costumes, an ever adapting and improving script and some excellent performers make up one hell of an entertaining ...

12Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Gershwin and Bartok – Usher Hall

Sometimes during the Edinburgh festivals, you simply need a little space. After days spent rushing between Fringe venues, squeezing into small rooms and watching theatre at increasingly close quarters, there is something wonderfully restorative about walking into the Usher Hall and finding the stage filled by the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America. And I mean filled. Under conductor Karina Canellakis, this remarkable collection of young American musicians produces an enormous, confident and wonderfully optimistic sound. The scale of the string section alone is extraordinary, stretching seemingly endlessly across the stage. They look magnificent too. Black jackets sit above striking blood red trousers, the whole orchestra beautifully colour coordinated, whi...

Stones in His Pockets – Frinton Summer Theatre

12Aug

By Samantha CollettNo Comments

South East

Stones in His Pockets – Frinton Summer Theatre

When Hollywood comes to County Kerry in rural Ireland to film their latest blockbuster, the scene is set for comic humour and plenty of twists and turns in this Olivier award-winning play that’s about so much more than being a film extra. Charlie Conlon (Matty Mccabbe) and Jake Quinn (Robbie Curran) are local lads keen to maximise the money-making opportunity – plus celebrity spotting of being on set. Of course, both have their own agendas – Charlie really wants to get his script made into a film and Jake unwittingly becomes an unlikely lothario attracting the attentions of the glamourous movie star Caroline Giovanni. What makes this play by Marie Jones so special is the fact all of the characters (I think perhaps there were 15 in total) are played by just two actors. And it actually...

Temi Wilkey (Lover Girl) – Pleasance Courtyard (Upstairs)

12Aug

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

Temi Wilkey (Lover Girl) – Pleasance Courtyard (Upstairs)

Well… the fact our Lover Girl has Daddy issues explains a bit. She also has Mummy issues, which explains a whole lot more. That’s w-h-o-l-e, with a ‘w’. Having caught something on a poster or flyer predicting ‘low-brow content with high-brow delivery’, no-one will be disappointed with this show. But this wasn’t low brow; it was just open, honest, brave… and funny. And due to the ‘high-brow delivery’ even the double entendres elicited a healthy reaction where usually there would have been only groans. As the hour progresses it turns out this was just the aperitif to some more thought-provoking passages. Temi is single and perplexed. She’s an excellent singer and dancer, taking the audience with her as she rails upon her situation with righteous, frustrated – and comic - indignation. ...

12Aug

By Christina SchmidtNo Comments

Scotland

The 39 Steps – theSpace @ Triplex

You might not have set out to see an amateur production on this year’s Fringe, but ‘The 39 Steps’ presented by Clifton College could be worth rethinking that. This adaptation of Hitchcock’s classic thriller uses physical theatre, shadow puppetry, fairly minimal set and props, some clever stage tricks and leans towards slapstick elements - essentially celebrating the magic live theatre has to offer. Of course it’s still a school production, so don’t expect anything too polished or equal performances across the board. No, there are things that could be improved upon. Some of the puppetry bits didn’t work as well as they could have with different direction for example. There were small inconsistencies that might have been overlooked but could easily be fixed and we see varying levels o...

When We Were Young – theSpace on the Mile

12Aug

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

When We Were Young – theSpace on the Mile

Award-winning hit of last year’s Fringe, When We Were Young features at theSpace on the Mile for another year running. Consisting of the first act of a two-act play, this show sees a group of young teenagers living in Govan in the 90s caught up in the young team culture. The tone is set by group leader Mooney (played by Liam Lambie) now grown-up as he reflects on his troubled youth. When We Were Young sends a powerful message of how systemic issues impact those living in under cared for areas – how easy it is to fall into gang violence and knife crime and how it affects the community. This is such a quintessentially Scottish show, with Lambie’s writing so accurately capturing the crude and blunt essence of the ‘neds’. With sharp and quick-witted insults being...

Tom Neenan: Portrait of Tom as a Young Neenan- Bluebell at Underbelly, George Square

11Aug

By Triona ScullyNo Comments

Scotland

Tom Neenan: Portrait of Tom as a Young Neenan- Bluebell at Underbelly, George Square

Billed as a show that combines Tom Neenan’s skills as a writer, comic, actor and semi-professional portrait artist, Portrait of Tom as a Young Neenan delivers on all fronts. Neenan’s title is knowingly pretentious and gives an accurate insight into the eponymous main character. An accomplished performer, his ability to make the mundane theatrical is evident from the onset when he delivers a clever sketch on getting a passport photo. It is a perfect entry into his story which ponders both the practical and philosophical nature of a portrait he is commissioned to paint. His subject is Lionel, an eccentric octogenarian with a creative approach to biography that rivals Neenan’s own and makes for some interesting observations on self-perception. Neenan weaves parts of his life t...

Beats + Strings Soul Renaissance – Hen & Chickens Theatre

11Aug

By Stewart Who?No Comments

London

Beats + Strings Soul Renaissance – Hen & Chickens Theatre

The Hen and Chickens in Highbury is a charming boozer. As the sun sets, golden light floods the room, and it feels warmly bohemian. The Theatre upstairs is bijou, but a perfect theatrical attic for intense, intimate performance. BEATS + STRINGS- Soul Renaissance are a fledgeling 3-piece band from Kansas. Each member boasts a credible solo career that thrived before they got their groove on as a trio. While they did a stellar job of bringing funky brunch party vibes to their performance, the space and set up felt overly formal for the occasion. Their repertoire felt honed for a subterranean, rose-hued jazz club. They needed a space where tables are dancefloors and smashed martini glasses add notes to the soundtrack. This room was not right, but as Whitney agreed- it’s okay. The strin...